Dark Days – Robert Watson
Dark Days is an evocative ballad filled composed of equal parts sorrow and hope.
- Recording: Bobby Watson - Love Remains
- Recorded on: November 13, 1986
- Label: Red Records (NS 212)
- Concert Key: D-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Ballad
- Alto Sax - Bobby Watson
- Piano - John Hicks
- Bass - Curtis Lundy
- Drums - Marvin “Smitty” Smith
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Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
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- Recording: Bobby Watson - Horizon Reassembled
- Recorded on: January 25, 2004
- Label: Palmetto Records (PM 2102)
- Concert Key: D-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Ballad
- Alto Sax - Bobby Watson
- Trumpet - Terell Stafford
- Piano - Edward Simon
- Bass - Essiet Essiet
- Drums - Victor Lewis
Purchase Dark Days - Robert Watson
Purchasing this song through our affiliate links with certain retailers provides jazzleadsheets.com with additional support to help keep us bringing you the best lead sheets available. Thank you!
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
Our lead sheets are based on this recording. C shows the basic melody, but Bobby Watson embellishes around it on the head. The fermatas in the fourth measure of A and at the end also appear in the solo chorus. This recording is only two choruses long, with a piano solo on the second chorus; the horns enter in the last measure of this second chorus leading to a coda based on the A section. As indicated in the lead sheet, the whole head can also be played after the solos, followed by the coda; this is the format of the original "Love Remains" recording.
There is no quintet arrangement on this recording; the trumpet improvises backgrounds for the alto melody.
Bobby wrote this composition during the apartheid era, after he saw an image in the International Herald Tribune of an infant's coffin being carried in a procession. Dark Days (Against Apartheid) was dedicated to Nelson Mandela.
Many of Watson's printed combo arrangements are available from Second Floor Music. See more information (scroll down to composer name or click on letter at top). Purchase at MusicDispatch.com.
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- Recording: Bobby Watson - Check Cashing Day
- Recorded on: May 19-20, 2013
- Label: Lafiya Music (2)
- Concert Key: D-flat
- Vocal Range: , to
- Style: Ballad
- Trumpet - Hermon Mehari
- Trombone - Karita Carter
- Alto Sax - Bobby Watson
- Piano - Richard Johnson
- Bass - Curtis Lundy
- Drums - Eric Kennedy
- Spoken Word - Glenn North
Purchase Dark Days - Robert Watson
Purchasing this song through our affiliate links with certain retailers provides jazzleadsheets.com with additional support to help keep us bringing you the best lead sheets available. Thank you!
Video
- Description
- Historical Notes
- Solos
- Piano Corner
- Bass Corner
- Drum Corner
- Guitar Corner
- Inside & Beyond
- Minus You
Related Songs
Email Send Dark Days to a friend
Robert Watson
born on August 23, 1953
Robert "Bobby" Watson, who was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas, grew up to become a jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger and education of formidable talent and acclaim. He got his degree from the University of Miami before becoming a member (and later the musical director) of legendary drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He remained an invaluable member for four years, from 1977 until 1981. Read more...